


Father to Son

by Stay_Frosty



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Good Parent Whizzer Brown, M/M, Nightmares, They bond over it, Whizzer Brown & Jason Friendship, Whizzer has trouble sleeping, so does Jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26637229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stay_Frosty/pseuds/Stay_Frosty
Summary: Jason has a nightmare, and Whizzer just so happens to be awake to help him through it.
Relationships: Jason & Whizzer Brown, Whizzer Brown/Marvin
Comments: 19
Kudos: 84





	Father to Son

**Author's Note:**

> umm idk about this one but i started writing it while i was having regular nightmares so and its been sitting in my docs for ages so,, its more of a self indulgent thing than a well though through fic but if u guys enjoy it let me know :)

Unlike Marvin, whose eyes would flutter shut as soon as his head hit the pillow, Whizzer often found himself struggling to sleep. He tried all of the basics: going to bed at the same time each night, avoiding naps, regular exercise - but none of it worked. 

He partly blamed this on his habit of staying out until the ungodly hours of the morning every weekend since he was seventeen - which of course stopped as soon as he and Marvin became exclusive. Still, a healthy sleep schedule was a difficult habit to form. 

Oddly enough, he didn’t miss it. He realised one night that staying home with his lover falling asleep on the sofa in each other’s arms while watching some lame movie that neither of them would ever really pay attention to was much preferable than getting so drunk he couldn’t see at a seedy bar every weekend. 

_He was going soft._

Though, that thought didn’t bother him quite as much as he thought it would. 

Whizzer never imagined committing himself to someone, but as he gazed over at his lover, sleeping soundly beside him, he couldn’t imagine having things any other way. He wouldn’t _want_ things any other way. 

However, as much as he adored laying beside his snoring beauty, taking in everything he loves about the man he wants to spend the rest of his life with, Whizzer was becoming restless. He decided that perhaps it would be best to grab a glass of water from the kitchen: give his legs a stretch and maybe feel less unsettled when he returned to bed. 

Conscious of his sleeping boyfriend, Whizzer climbed out of the bed and tiptoed over to the door, opening them closing it as quietly as he could. Marvin was a fairly heavy sleeper, but he didn’t want to take the risk; at least one of them should be able to get some decent rest that night. Cautiously, he made his way through the hallway and towards the stairs, when something caught his eye. 

A beam of light was visible from underneath Jason’s door. Whizzer smirked; the kid was probably wide awake and on his switch, taking him and Marvin for fools. He had no plans to chastise the boy - that was Marvin’s job, and Whizzer was no snitch - but he did think he should at least do the responsible thing and recommend that Jason gets some sleep (no matter how hypocritical that may make him). 

Whizzer knocked gently and waited a few seconds before carefully opening the door, expecting to find his step-son scrambling to hide his electronics and feign being asleep, but was met with a completely different image altogether. 

Jason was sitting on top of his covers with his head in his hands, his knees drawn up to his chest as he whimpered. It seemed he hadn’t noticed Whizzer enter the room. The older man cleared his throat, and Jason’s head snapped forward. His eyes were wide and frightened, like a startled deer, red around the edges from crying, 

Whizzer felt his chest ache as he took in the sight of his step-son in such a state. “You okay, pal?” he asked, keeping his voice low and soft. 

Jason said nothing, opting instead to stare hopelessly at the older man. In all honesty, Whizzer wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. He and Jason were close, anyone could tell that, but this isn’t something that they had dealt with together before. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?” he prompted, taking a seat beside Jason on the bed. 

With a small, barely audible whimper, Jason inched his body closer to Whizzer’s, shaking his head. Carefully, Whizzer wrapped an arm around the boy’s thin shoulders, leaving him plenty of time to pull away if he needed to. 

He could feel Jason’s laboured breathing against his chest as he grasped desperately onto Whizzer’s pyjama top, burying his face in his step-father’s chest. “Shhh, baby,” the older man cooed, bringing up a hand to gently comb through Jason’s unruly curls. “You’re okay, just breathe.” 

It took a few minutes before Jason’s breathy whimpers settled down into the occasional sniffle, but it seemed that he was finally able to follow Whizzer’s slow and exaggerated breaths. 

“I can’t sleep either,” Whizzer assured gently, realising that Jason probably was not going to tell him about what was keeping him awake. “How about we go downstairs and watch a movie? Then if you want to talk about it we can - if not, we don’t. It’s all up to you, buddy.” 

He could only hope he was saying the right thing. It was no lie that Whizzer could get through to the kid just as well as, if not better than, the rest of his family - they just had that kind of connection - but they’d never encountered anything like this. 

He had always figured that was because Jason saw him as more of a friend than he did a parent - which was more than fine by Whizzer, but now he needed to act like a parent and he didn’t even know where to begin. 

Jason raising his head snapped Whizzer from his spiralling thoughts. “Is that okay?” the boy asked in a small voice, unsure of himself. His eyes were hopeful, and Whizzer could help the way his lips curved into a small smile. 

“Of course it is, you can even choose the movie.” 

So that’s what they did. Whizzer made them both hot chocolate and threw some popcorn in the microwave, whilst Jason collected as many blankets that he could - piling them up in a heap on the sofa. He decided on Star Wars as their movie choice, making sure to have it playing before Whizzer re-entered the room. 

Whizzer noticed that even though there was plenty of room on the sofa, Jason stayed as close to him as possible. Not that he minded, it was nice to spend time with the kid - even nicer that despite his distaste for physical affection, he was glued to Whizzer’s side through the movie. 

“Why couldn’t _you_ sleep?” Jason asked, in that curious little voice of his. 

Whizzer sighed, gracefully putting an arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Not sure, pal. Just couldn’t,” he explained - it technically wasn’t a lie, but Jason didn’t seem to buy it. He didn’t pry any further, though. “What about you?” 

Jason’s cheeks turned rosy with embarrassment, and the way he suddenly refused eye contact did not go unnoticed. “I had a bad dream,” he mumbled. 

“Do they happen a lot?” Whizzer asked, concerned by the boy’s admission. 

“Not every night but,” Jason took a shaky breath. “Yeah.” 

The older man frowned. He had absolutely no idea - and it seemed neither did Marvin otherwise he would have mentioned something. Whizzer hated the idea of their kid laying awake at night, terrified, too embarrassed to say anything. His stomach twisted when he realised that would have probably gone on for much longer if he hadn’t noticed his light on tonight. 

“I know you’re 13, so, you’re basically a man now,” Whizzer began, his voice as playful as he could make it through all of his worries. “But you can _always_ come to see me or your dad if you need to.” 

He realised then that they only had Jason on weekends, and there was just as much chance of him having a nightmare throughout the week. “Does your mom know?” 

Jason’s eyes grew wide as he shook his head. “No,” he said quickly, barely suppressing a shudder. “And she can’t - she’ll have Mendel psychoanalyse me.” 

Despite the heavy atmosphere, Whizzer chuckled. He wished he could assure the kid that wouldn’t happen - but he wasn’t a dishonest man. “It’s just because they care about you,” he reasoned. “And so do I, and so does your dad. If you want this to stay between us it can.”

For the first time all night, a smile was visible on Jason’s face. “Really?” he asked, hopeful. 

“Of course, but with one condition.” The smile fell from Jason’s face. “If it happens again, text me. I’ll be awake, I promise. I won’t tell anyone, but I need to know that you’re okay. Deal?” 

Jason grinned. “Deal,” he agreed. “Can we watch the movie now?” 

Marvin was a little bit concerned when he woke up to find that the space beside him was cold and empty, but that Whizzer’s phone was still in its place and the bedside table. It was rare that his boyfriend would wake up on a morning and leave the room without taking his mobile with him - so Marvin opted to force himself out of bed much earlier than he would do on a weekend. 

However, all worries disappeared upon entering the living room, when he was greeted with the sight of Whizzer sprawled out across the sofa and Jason snuggled in practically on top of him, a mountain of blankets on top of the pair. He’d ask later, all he could think to do at that moment was pull out his phone and take a picture of his favourite boys. 

They never did explain with more detail than a simple “we watched a movie”, but Marvin quickly caught on the fact that it became a regular occurrence. 

He wouldn’t pry - his two favourite people in the whole world getting along was all he could ever ask for in life. 

Besides, the collection of pictures that were slowly filling him his gallery made waking up alone more than worth it.


End file.
